Cold Plate Technology Comparison

New types of energy, such as wind and solar power, are being utilized more prevalently and hybrid cars/buses are being identified as a means of reducing carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the use of fossil fuels. Electronic systems like frequency converters, for wind power and train utilization are required to provide ever higher levels of energy savings. As such, IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) modules required for power conversion and motor control are becoming more and more important. Similarly, as our society becomes increasingly more dependent on information-oriented, digitized data there is an increasing need for uninterruptable power supplies (UPS).

This white paper compares and analyzes two distinct cold plate technologies with regard to their thermal transfer capabilities and then translates that information into an analysis of both random failure and IC wearout reliability to show the 8-12.25X lifetime improvement achievable for the IGBT devices/modules with respect to random failures and a 27 to 44X improvement with respect to IC wearout.